1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to watercraft. More specifically, the invention relates to powered surfboards.
2. Description of the Related Art
Personal watercraft have given much pleasure to people who enjoy recreation and sports on navigable bodies of water. It has only been recent in the history of personal watercraft that motorized personal watercraft have made great strides in providing pleasure at a reasonable cost. These motorized personal watercrafts, the most common of which are wave runners and jet skis, have several disadvantages to their design. First, wave runners and jet skis are operated in a fashion such that they do not assimilate surfing, either wave surfing or wind surfing. This prevents the user of either of these watercrafts from working or using body balance as a primary source of direction. Essentially, the users of these craft steer the water jet propelling stream of water to move in a desired direction. Second, the weight of these watercraft are extreme. Typically, such watercraft require at least two people to move the watercraft when out of the water and require trailers for transport and/or launch. This restricts the use of these watercraft to only being used when two people are present to put the watercraft into and out of the water. U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,529, issued to Montgomery on Dec. 10, 1996, discloses a personal watercraft. This watercraft is singular in construction in that there are no secondary structures extending out from a primary structure. A deck is used by the operator to lay on or stand on as is desired by the operator. An internal combustion engine is housed in the center of this watercraft fore of the deck upon which the operator is positioned. Output and exhaust fumes are transmitted out of the internal combustion engine toward the stern of the watercraft. While this design more approximates surfing, it is not an optimal design. First, the internal combustion engine is housed in front of the deck for the operator and prevents the operator from guiding the watercraft with agility due to the displaced center of gravity of the watercraft and the operator to a position in front of the operator. While sharp edges protruding from the bottom of the hull (183A, 183B) were introduced into this watercraft to overcome this displaced center of gravity, these edges do little to overcome the displaced center of gravity to the position in front of the operator. Second, the watercraft is of a weight which requires at least two people to move the watercraft to and from the water. As stated above, this is a disadvantage especially in light of the fact that this watercraft is designed only to have a single operator on the deck thereof.